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On July 23 United States Ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer signed the Counterterrorism Cooperation Initiative (CCI) Memorandum of Understanding along with Home Affairs Secretary G.K. Pillai, who signed on behalf of India. The signing is the latest evidence of the close and effective cooperative efforts between the United States and India on counterterrorism, information sharing, and building capacities.

The India-US Counter Terrorism Cooperation Initiative calls for closer cooperation between the two countries’ commando and special forces, an Indian government statement said. India said the pact also aims to increase “exchanges between coast guards and the navy on maritime security” and establish procedures to undertake joint investigations.

Timothy Roemer, the US ambassador to India, who signed the agreement on behalf of Washington, said

“In the coming days and months there will be even closer information-sharing and collaborative efforts on issues ranging from bomb blast probe and major event security to mega-city policing, cyber and border security,” he said.

The diplomat said the pact was forged on the sidelines of a state visit to the United States by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last November.

“President (Barack) Obama and the (Indian) prime minister have acknowledged the common threat that international terrorism poses to all people,” Roemer added.

Few years ago no one would have imagined the depth and breadth of this relationship, let alone the level of sensitive and sophisticated sharing of high level information between our two countries. A few months ago we worked together on gaining access for India to David Headley, one of the notorious conspirators in the terror attacks on Mumbai. This new CCI will provide even more opportunities for us to share best practices to strengthen capacity building, forensic and investigative techniques, and port and border security. This initiative will also offer opportunities to work jointly on one of the most challenging and difficult problems of this century—cyber security. Now, with scores of threats from groups like AQ and LeT, we must forge ahead to execute this unprecedented agreement.